Cornell’s attempt to win their first title since 1978 falls short. Cornell had played brilliantly for the past 175 minutes. In their wins over Princeton, and UVA, Cornell controlled play from whistle to whistle. Even in the Championship game, Cornell looked dominating until the last 3:47 of the game.

John Glynn opened up the scoring with the first two Cornell goals, as it looked like it was going to be a long day for the Syracuse faithful. Syracuse finally got on the board with 5:46 left on a play that would epitomize Syracuse’s day. Daniello shot and was stuffed by Cornell goalie Jake Myers. In the ensuing scrum for the rebound behind the net, Daniello scooped up the ball drove around the other side of the cage and scored. Cornell would win the strategic game play, but SU would win the unsettled situations.

Each team would ad one more goal, so at the end of the first quarter it was 3-2 Cornell. While time of possession is not an official stat, by my estimate it would have been 10 minutes Cornel to 5 Syracuse.

Cornell was methodical as their defense started playing a very tight zone. This kept SU from getting any good scoring chances in tight. Their offense was virtually running the clock. For all you youngsters out there, Cornell is a prime example of why backing up a shot is necessary. On almost every shot that went out, Cornell got the ball back.

The second quarter saw much of the same, as Cornell added another 3 goals and Syracuse 2, making it 6-4 Cornell at the half. Syracuse’s defense looked sluggish. They just weren’t getting it done at this point, and their man-down defense that had been so good all year was 50% as Max Seibald connected on an EMO chance in the 2nd.

The third quarter was boring. Cornell dominated the clock however, after halftime, SU’s defense seemed to wake up. Cornell only netted one goal in the third quarter and did not convert on their two EMO opportunities. While Syracuse only had 3 shots, one of them went in from Josh Amidon. At the end of the third, it was 7-5 Cornell.

All year long Syracuse scored in surges. Typically it came in the late second or third quarters. They might average 1-2 per quarter and then all of a sudden nail 4 in a short span of time.

In the fourth quarter, there seemed to be no spurt. When Roy Lang scored to put Cornell up by 3 with 5:31 remaining in the game, some even in the press box started to write Syracuse off…literally prepping their stories for how Cornell broke into the Fab4 of lacrosse. The SU faithful kept holding on for that late spurt. And then it came.

Tierney came with an over the head check on a Cornell player stripping the ball leading to a Hardy to Keogh goal. Syracuse was down by 2. Less than a minute later, Amadon found Cody Jamison for another goal. Syracuse down by 1 with 2:46 left.

The last 35 seconds of the game should be immortalized. Syracuse had the ball on offense and threw the ball away with less than 30 to go in the game. It all but sealed the fate of the game. Cornell had to clear the ball from their end line.

Max Seibald passed the ball up to defenseman Matt Moyer. Kenny Nims was all over Moyer, and in one fleeting diving check, knocked the ball loose. Somehow Keogh got the loose ball and hurled it up to anyone. Matt Abbott pulled the ball in and cheaped another pass in the general direction of the goal. The ball was tipped off of Cornell Middie Roy Lang’s stick right to Nims who gets a falling shot past Jake Myers for the game tying goal with 4 seconds left.

Sudden Death

Cornell won the faceoff and in a move I can not understand, they did not call a time out to set up a play and halt the SU momentum that had been building up. Instead Sid Smith stripped the ball giving possession to Syracuse.

Hardy drove in and looked like he wanted the take. As Cody Jamison’s defender slid to pick up Hardy, Hardy passed to Cody sitting on the side of the goal for an easy goal to win it in OT.

Syracuse won their 11th title. Cornell was denied history. Max Seibald will forever be haunted by the number 4. Max Seibald said, “Four seconds away … It seems to be a number that haunts us. When we sophomores, that was the number on the board when Duke scored on us. That makes it even tougher for us.”